


Grow through what you go through

by Tabata



Series: Leoverse [126]
Category: Glee
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Dragons, Dragons, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-25
Updated: 2019-02-25
Packaged: 2019-11-05 16:10:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17922089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tabata/pseuds/Tabata
Summary: After leaving his village with Blaine, Leo is undergoing his training as a dragon slayer, which is not even remotely as easy as he thought it would be. As he will soon discover, some lessons are better learned through experience.





	Grow through what you go through

**Author's Note:**

> **WARNING:** This story is an **AU** from the original 'verse. What happens in here has little to none correlation with what happens in Leonard Karofsky-Hummel VS The world or Broken Heart Syndrome. The characters involved are (mostly) the same, but situations and relationships between them may be completely different.  
> In this intance of the universe, Blaine is a dragonslayer who has been called to the poor village of Lima to free it of its dragon curse.
> 
> Written for: COW-T #9  
> Prompt: La piuma arrivò risalendo il vento. (Giorgio Faletti, La piuma)

Leo is not used to travel such long distances. Actually, he's not used to travel _at all_ since this is the first time in fifteen years that he leaves his village. He had never thought he was going to go around and see the world – he's a pretty lazy kid and he likes his village a lot – but Blaine was really clear: either Leo went with him or they could not be together the way he wanted because Blaine was hardly going to come back to this _godforsaken swamp_ , which were the exact words he used to describe Leo's village. So Leo went with him.

But Blaine is not an easy travel companion. In fact, he's not an easy anything. First of all, the man only travels on foot. Officially it's because dragons tend to live in areas that are not horse-friendly, so a horse is just a waste of good money for a dragon slayer, who would be forced to leave his horse behind more times than he could use it. But if you ask Leo, it's only because Blaine hates animals. According to him, that's also why Blaine is a dragon slayer. Two, he rarely takes any break. He can walk for miles without breaking a sweat. He eats very little and very rarely, so much so that Leo is starting to think he lives off air and sex.  
And third, he sleeps on trees like a freaking leopard and he forces Leo to do the same.

They have a tent, but Blaine says that that's a commodity he likes to enjoy and that he won't rush to pitch up a tent only to take it down the morning after. Leo knows that it's not just any tent but a luxury thing, big enough to have rooms and to put a fire pit in, because he has slept in it more than once when Blaine was living at the village, but he hasn't seen it once since they left. All he can do is carrying it around, as carrying their luggage is apparently his job, now.

Every day when they wake up, at dawn, and when they stop for the night, Blaine takes care of his training. He makes sure Leo does enough exercise and practices with his bow, which is his weapon of choice. Blaine says that a diet low in proteins and a lazy life have made him too skinny and that he has to catch up with years of healthy growing. That village almost ruined you – he says every time he has the chance – you're lucky I found you first. You're half the size I was at your age.

Blaine never talks about his past unless it's to say that and Leo learned on his own skin not to ask too much. The man is always cocky and quite often insufferably annoying, but he turns straight up nasty when you try to find out things about him he doesn't want you to know, which is pretty much anything. It's like he chose a very precise image to give to others and he doesn't want anybody to mess with that. Leo respects that, but a little more closeness between them wouldn't hurt. Still, he doesn't say that to him because, in that respect, he already knows him well enough to know exactly what he would say: you already get my cock in your ass every night. What more closeness do you want? 

As they walk for long, endless hours, Blaine teaches him about history and dragons. He tells him everything about all the different species – there are hundreds – how and where they live, what they eat, how they attack. And every time they go through a particular city or an area where something important happened, Blaine shares with him the story behind it; usually, it's either about how the dragons destroyed it or how humans fought for it and sent the dragons where they belonged. Leo has never heard most of these stories, because his village was hidden and protected in the heart of a valley that has only started seeing dragons in the last few years, so Blaine tells him of a world he never knew existed. It's scary, but also exciting and it makes it all worth it, the exertion, the constant training, and even Blaine's annoying personality.

Every time they come across the tracks of a dragon, Blaine says it is a chance for him to learn by experience and invites him to follow them to the nest. Blaine never kills dragons for free, so they only watch in those occasions, but Leo loves the thrill of the hunt and he's always overly excited and proud of himself whenever he manages to find a nest all by himself. Leaving the village, they've seen a lot of Red Narrowtails – middle-sized creatures with bright vermilion red tails, as their name suggests – and bulky Mountain Nesters, which are very common in that area. But they were really just a tiny portion of what was there just a few miles away. Since the beginning of their journey, Leo has seen Airstorms, that fly so quickly that the amount of air they can move feels like an hurricane; Acidbolts, that are extremely dangerous as they can spit acid a s well as fire; Greatshell Furies, that are very similar to big tortoises and are the first aquatic dragons Leo has ever seen; Stonejaws, that can literally chew mountains; and one mighty specimen of Great Ambernose, that with his elegant structure and golden snout, is Leo's favorite species at the moment.

“How can you say it's your favorite dragon species if you've only seen a bunch of them?” Blaine snorts, shaking his head. They've came across the Great Ambernose three days ago and it's still the only thing Leo can talk about as they follow the ridgeline of yet another mountain.

“I didn't say it's my favorite dragon species _ever_. I said it's my favorite dragon species _so far_ ,” Leo points out. “There's a difference.”

Blaine doesn't seem that much impressed by the explanation. The whole thing still sounds pretty idiotic to him. “There are way more dangerous and powerful dragons out there than the Great Ambernose,” he says. “In fact, as far as firepower goes, it's not that impressive, although he is very resilient to pretty much any kind of attacks. Still, it's a matter of time with it. If you hit him enough times, it will break.”

Leo rolls his eyes in his usual theatrical way. “Why is it always power with you?”

“Because that's the only thing that matters,” he shrugs.

Leo frowns as he has done every single time they've had this precise discussion in the past several weeks. Leo doesn't agree with Blaine's opinions on dragons. He understands the job he has – and that he himself is learning too – sometimes requires him to be merciless. Dragons are multiplying at a worrying rate and they get bolder and more aggressive every day because there's too many of them now and their food and vital space are getting scarce, so dragon slayers are not only useful, they are humanity's only hope not to be outnumbered. Still, Leo doesn't understand why Blaine can't appreciate the beauty of these creatures. You always try to put out a fire, but you can't deny how fascinating flames are.

“It is not!” He protests, vehemently. “They are magnificent creatures. One of the greatest marvels in nature, if you ask me.”

“One, nobody asked you,” Blaine throws him another unimpressed glance. “Two, they are lethal deadly machines. Nature designed them to burn, kill and destroy, and we are their favorite meal, kiddo. You better not forget that even for a second.”

Leo is not one who gives up easily, especially when he thinks he's right. “So you don't have a favorite dragon?” He asks.

“No, I don't have a favorite dragon because I'm not five, Leo.”

Leo rolls his eyes again. “Right, but what if you had to choose, what would be the one you like the most?”

“I don't like any of them,” Blaine insists. “I only divide them into two categories: those that are easy to kill and those that can easily kill you.”

Leo sighs. Sometimes Blaine can be really obtuse when it comes to have conversations. Maybe it's because he always travels alone and he's not really used to speak with other human beings unless he has to have sex with them. But then again, it's not like he says very meaningful things during sex. “Alright, what's the most hard to kill then?”

“Oh, that would be the Black Hunter,” Blaine answers in a heartbeat. “That's a real motherfucker to put down. He's _huge_ , head big as a house—“

“Well, houses aren't that big,” Leo comments. Having only seen village houses, that doesn't sound very impressive to him.

“A _city_ house, Leo. Not those shitty huts your people live in,” Blaine says annoyed. “Anyway, his claws and fangs are as long as a nightmare and he's got two different sets of hard scales that make his skin impenetrable. And he's fucking clever. Pure meat-eater. If he sniffs you, he can hunt you down for days, hence the name.”

“It sounds like your favorite dragon to me,” Leo teases him. “Have you ever met one?”

“I've met two, actually. And I've almost lost my arm both times.”

Leo tightens his grip on the straps of his backpack. “But you managed to kill them.”

“No, I managed to escape,” Blaine corrects him, “which I regard as a great success. You only should fight a dragon if you can win. There's no point in getting killed when you have no chance to begin with. Being stupid is not a badge of honor.”

It's about noon when they reach some sort of peaceful meadow, the sight of which instantly reminds Leo of lunch and rest. “Can we take a break?” He asks, hopefully.

Blaine keeps walking. “No.”

“Can I at least know where are we going?”

“Also no.”

Leo sighs, but he doesn't stop. He tried that once and Blaine simply grabbed the backpack with all their provisions and left him there. Leo thought he was bluffing, so he let him and sat down, determined to wait for him to come back. But Blaine didn't. It took Leo three hours to catch up with him. “What do you have against rest?” 

“I have absolutely nothing against rest, but training you is already costing me a lot of money,” Blaine answers. “I need to get you ready to work as soon as possible so we can stop wasting time. Besides, this is not an easy job. You don't get to take breaks while you're trying to kill a huge beast that wants to tear your head off. You need to be more resistant. So no breaks. But you can eat something if you want.”

They walk for the rest of the day with just a two minutes break to refill their canteen at a stream. Then, finally, at dusk, Blaine calls it a day. “We're setting camp here,” he says, pointing at a patch of greenery a few feet away.

Leo welcomes the news with a big sigh of relief and throwing himself on the ground. “Give me only one second and I'm getting my bow,” he says right away, knowing that he's supposed to be practicing now.

“No, take off the backpack and come with me.”

Leo blinks a couple of times. “Where?” He asks, looking around. There's literally nothing but woods for miles.

“Just come!” Blaine snaps, annoyed. “Can't you just do what you're told for once? For fuck's sake!”

Leo quickly takes off his backpack and follows him. As they make their way among the trees, Blaine is tense and he's clearly listening for something, so Leo remains silent. The last thing he needs right now is to make him mad and be left tied to a tree for the first hungry animal to eat.

They don't go too far, but they walk long enough for the sun to set, leaving them in the dark. More than seeing Blaine now, Leo can smell the oil he uses on his hair and follows that. When he's about to demand some explanation – training is okay, but walking blindly in a forest after leaving camp doesn't sound much of a training to him – Blaine gestures him to stop by raising his closed fist. They reach the edge of a small meadow, enclosed by fir trees. Leo can see a lake, its surface sparkling with the moonlight, and in the middle of it, raising from the water, a dragon.

“That's an Ivoryscaled Diver,” Blaine whispers. “There's a colony nearby. They come here to get water.”

The dragon is small and elegant, and it glows softly. Its body is covered in white holographic scales that make it look white or silver, depending on the light. It has long feathered wings and a crest on its head, similar to those of some birds. In fact, it has a bird quality to it and when it takes flight to get out of the water, it reminds Leo of a graceful swan. It must be the most beautiful dragon he has ever seen.

“They always live near large bodies of water as they need to take frequent baths,” Blaine goes on in a low voice as the Ivoryscaled Diver lands a few feet from them. “Their scales are soft and get dry easily. They feed on fish and small animals.”

Leo is only half-listening to him while he takes in the mesmerizing sight of the dragon in front of him. There's something magical in it, like it came straight out of a fairy tale. It doesn't even look like a real animal. Leo takes the first step without even knowing and, hearing a rustle, the dragon looks up. It has black alien eyes sprinkled with with dots, like tiny stars. They seem to see more than just reality. Leo feels like he could stare into it for hours and find entire galaxies in them.

The dragon doesn't flee and it looks very calm, peaceful even. Its wings are closed neatly at its sides and the feathers shimmer, dusted with drops of water. It allows Leo to get close and it smells the air around him, making the same thrilling sounds of doves and robins. 

The movement of the fangs are so quick that Leo doesn't even see them. One moment he's looking at the most fragile, precious creature on earth, the next he's staring at a huge mouth full of pointy teeth, two sets of them, coming down on him. He screams shamelessly and falls backwards, his legs flailing in the air uselessly. The beast charges but it's pushed back by one single shot that hits it right in the chest. It screeches, spreading its wings in one last desperate attempt to fly away, but it fails. It falls on its side, dead.

Leo stares in horror at the body folded on itself, suddenly motionless. It's still glowing softly, its scales are shimmering, but it's a dead thing now, there's nothing magical in it anymore. He tears away his eyes from it to look at Blaine, who's standing right behind him, his arm still outstretched, holding his gun. He opens his mouth, but words don't come out.

“They mesmerize their preys,” Blaine explains to him, lowering the gun. “That's how they hunt. You look them in the eyes and you're done.”

Leo feels the shock but he works through it. He tries to blink, to swallow, to regain control over his own body. He knows he has to. He panicked once already and that's bad enough, he can't show any more weakness. Blaine expects it, so he won't. “You killed it to teach me a lesson?”

Blaine shrugs. “That and I needed a new fire gland,” he answers. His weapon is state of the art technology, something that Leo would have never even dreamed of before meeting him. It's a gun, but instead of bullets, it utilizes dragon firepower through fire glands that Blaine cuts out of his preys' necks. A single fire gland can last for months, but then he needs to recharge the gun with a new one. “Come on, you need to learn how to cut it out.”

“You said I'm never getting a gun,” Leo says. He wanted it to sound mocking, but it comes out distant, cold. Still too shocked.

“You are not, but there might be times in the future when I won't be there when you kill a dragon and I don't want a good fire gland to go to waste just because you couldn't be arsed to learn how to cut it out from its neck,” Blaine says. He was clearly expecting some kind of reaction from him, but it doesn't arrive. So he sighs, finally squatting in front of him as if he had wanted to avoid doing it this whole time. One of the dragon's feathers, carried by the wind, landed on Leo's leg. Blaine picks it up and skillfully braids it through Leo's hair the same way scales are braided into its own. “Let this be a reminder for you. A beautiful dragon is a dragon that kills you faster because you forget how dangerous it is.”

Leo brushes the white, opalescent feather in his hair with his fingertips. His first memento of his new life. The first of many, he hopes. He's still shaking, but he nods. In his eyes again the same determination he had when he left the village. Blaine smiles softly for the first time in days and Leo's heart could explode for the joy.

Blaine leaves a kiss on his forehead before standing up again. “Come on, kid,” he invites him as he offers him his hand. “We've got a lot to do before bed.”

This time Leo feels ready and he can trust himself not to fall down again. His legs have stopped shaking.


End file.
